Dr. Anthony Fauci Sounds Alarm on NFL Season

Fauci said he doesn't see how the league can hold a season without being in a bubble, but the league continues to discuss ways to make it work, including the reduction of 90 players in the preseason as well as an increase in the size of practice squads

Dr. Anthony Fauci announced on CNN Thursday that he sees it being “very hard to see how football is able to be played this fall.”

Right now, the NFL is planning on just doing that. The league is also preparing for training camps to open next month.

There will be guidelines, but will they go far enough to make players feel safe?

“Unless players are essentially in a bubble – insulated from the community and they are tested nearly every day – it would be very hard to see how football is able to be played this fall,” Fauci told CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta. “If there is a second wave, which is certainly a possibility and which would be complicated by the predictable flu season, football may not happen this season.”

Fauci, who has been the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, is a key member of the White House task force on the virus.

A bubble situation, similar to the one the NBA will attempt, doesn’t seem feasible with a roster of 90 players, then 53 on the roster once it is trimmed at the end of August.

That is why there are rumblings the NFL could be considering reducing the number of players from 90 to an unknown figure as of now. In conjunction with that, the league would allow teams to keep as many as 16 players on the practice squad knowing that there will be players who test positive for the coronavirus once the ramp-up period begins and even beyond, perhaps into the season.

The NFLPA would have to be on board with this and while it may be nice in their eyes that the practice squad has increased but the preseason rosters have been sliced from 90. The cut from 90 even before training camps open would likely not be very severe if the Players Association were to be on board with the move.

The expansion to 16 practice squad players sounds like a good plan, and the Eagles would be happy with that considering the great success with practice squad players who have been elevated to the roster in recent years.

Look no further than 2019, when Boston Scott, Greg Ward, and Josh Perkins all were promoted at various points in the season and contributed mightily to the Eagles’ second NFC East title in three years.

The NFL is not only trying to determine proper guidelines to make training camps and an on-time season happen, they are trying to figure out contingency plans knowing that there will likely be positive COVID-19 tests to players as things ramp up and proceed into fall.

Another plan being looked at is reducing preseason games from four to two.

In response to Fauci’s comments, the NFL’s chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills released a statement that read:

“We are developing a comprehensive and rapid-result testing program and rigorous protocols that call for a shared responsibility from everyone inside our football ecosystem.

“Make no mistake, this is no easy task. We will make adjustments as necessary to meet the public health environment as we prepare to play the 2020 season as scheduled with increased protocols and safety measures for all players, personnel and attendees. We will be flexible and adaptable in this environment to adjust to the virus as needed.”

There is still time to study and implement, but that time is dwindling as June reaches is midpoint.